Grading the teacher: Students want respect

Editor’s Note: Student Union is written by students at Hampden Academy, Brewer High School, Old Town High School and Schenck High School in East Millinocket. The weekly column is a joint effort among the schools, the Bangor Daily News and Acadia Hospital. This column was written by Brewer High School students. Their adviser is Sherri Thomas.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil.” Without this essential idea, teachers can never truly appreciate the abilities possessed by their students.

After teachers completed first-quarter grades at Brewer High School, some students received grades based not solely upon their academic performance, but rather inflated or deflated by personal bias.

How do such practices provide students with the respect they deserve? Clearly, they do not.

For 12 years, students have been graded on academic performance, and now it is time to turn the academic table as we grade teachers on their professional performance.

Teachers who earn an A grade in our grade book demonstrate fairness, communicate well, show dedication and use challenging and relevant assignments.

We see A teachers as being fair to all students. By offering proof of a student’s grade, the teacher establishes that the student’s grade was legitimately based on the student’s academia, as opposed to any unfair bias.

We want to see our grades backed up. Freshman English teacher Linda Norton, one of many avid users of the grade-sheet system at Brewer High, realizes this. The system has both teachers and students keeping a running record of their grades for the quarter. The grade sheet allows no room for argument.

Norton said, “The grade sheets offer teachers a double-check, as well as giving students responsibility for keeping track of their own grades.” We could not agree more.

In contrast, F teachers are unfair with their grading. They are the ones who can somehow mysteriously come up with grades, but when asked by students to offer proof, they lack the numbers (perhaps the grade book) to prove the assessments as legitimate.

We do not know where, or how, they came up with the grades received, but what we do know is that our calculations do not match up with theirs. Teachers can deny that the grade was not based on their feelings toward a particular student, but we feel otherwise.

Though student feelings may be derived from opinion, unless a teacher can offer proof that a grade is based on computation rather than bias, students cannot help but feel cheated. Such situations erode school climate.

A teachers talk to us, not at us. They talk to us as educated adults, sharing personal experiences and knowledge that extend and enhance information in the textbook.

F teachers talk to us like the incompetent teenagers that they think we are. We are

entitled to just as much respect as teachers think they deserve.

An A teacher is also dedicated. These teachers go out of their way to help their students. They arrive early and stay late to ensure that their students receive effective help.

While A teachers demonstrate their dedication, F teachers do the opposite. They make it quite clear they are not excited to be here.

You know who they are. They are the teachers who arrive in the mornings only to find their students waiting for them at their door, the teachers whose students arrive at their room after school only to find the lights off and the door locked.

We also appreciate that A teachers do their work at home and give us relevant assignments to do during class to make class worthwhile. We also thank them for doing their work so that they can give us our grades back as soon as possible.

Would it be so much to

ask for F teachers, who expect us to do our homework at home, to do their work at home rather than give us busywork to do during class while they scurry to get their work done?

We can only hope that our second quarter will go differently. Perhaps educators will reflect (an A characteristic) on their teacher practices.

If F teachers are unwilling to reconsider their style, they might reconsider their profession.

A teachers – keep up the good work.